Oilers Fantasy Draft (NHL 12)

[Weezer21]

I've decided to do an Oilers fantasy draft on NHL 12 and I'll be building around a young group of players similar to what Bthomp did with the leafs. I'll be building a big, strong, grinding team that will cycle the puck well and generate garbage goals, because I prefer that style of play. Thanks for reading and following, enjoy!

[Weezer21]

Edmonton Oilers Depth Chart - 2011-12
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LW	S. Couturier (80)	E. Tangradi (77)	J. Morin (75)	D. Smith-Pelly (73)
C	M. Duchene (87)	J. Colborne (76)	B. Schenn (75)	J. Josefson (75)
RW	G. Landeskog (81)	Z. Kassian (75)	C. Kreider (74)	M. Zibanejad (74)
D #1	A. Larsson (80)	B. Gormley (69)	J. Cowen (80)
D #2	O. Ekman-Larsson (80)	W. Mitchell (82)	M. Scandella (78)
G	M. Brodeur (83)	J. Markstrom (77)

NOTES
Captain: Willie Mitchell
A. Captain: Matt Duchene
A. Captain: Gabriel Landeskog
Scratches: C J. Andersson (72), D B. Carson (76), LW A. Rodin (72)
Notable Minor Leaguers:
LW B. Saad (68)
C S. Glennie (71)
RW A. Watson (69)
LW D. Broll (65)
C M. McNeill (67)
RW S. Noesen (66)
C M. Zagrapan (67)
D S. Percy (66)
D J. Brodin (69)
G R. Lehner (78)


Comments
Forwards: A team built to play the dump and chase, hit and grind game from 1st line to 4th line. Everyone is either a TWF, GRN, or PWF, with the exception of Duchene (personal fav, and need some 1st line offensive punch), and Morin (sniper with size, Ryder type guy.) Josefson is a favorite of mine as I'm a devils fan and other than that everything else is kind of self explanatory. Landeskog is the exact type of player I want and he will be the captain when it's Mitchell's time to leave.
Defense: The two Swedish Larsson's headline what I feel will be a deep defensive core come 2 or 3 years time. I do feature Gormely on my 2nd pair but i feel he is protected playing alongside Mitchell. I had to choose between Gormley and Brodin for that spot on the roster and while they're both 69 overall I felt like Brodin was very undersized and would benefit from a year in the AHL. Cowen and Scandella fill out my bottom pair and both have potential to be solid stay at home guys.
Goaltending: Always nice when you have a guy like Brodeur to mentor you, and Markstrom will surely benefit. I had a tough time deciding between Markstrom or Lehner as backup and seeing as Lehner is younger I felt he would be better off in the AHL. I'd like to give Markstrom 40 games or more this year in the NHL though. I look forward to a solid Swedish goalie tandem down the road.

Overview: I tried to not stack my team with an immense amount of talent, both for challenge and for cap problems. ie, someone like Scandella, who isn't your typical 75 overall B/B/B prospect, but is a solid 78 with B-/B-/B- who can fill out as a bottom pairing stay at home D-man, just what every team needs. I don't need 18 superstars, so I drafted some future role players as well.

Hopefully you guys like the team and you will follow this franchise! Next up-date will be the All-Star break

[Weezer21]

Also if there's any players that are young that come to mind that you think would fit a heavy forechecking system let me know

[Weezer21]

NHL Standings - Updated: Jan 1,
EAST PLAYOFF RACE	W	L	OTL	PTS
Tampa Bay Lightning	35	10	3	73
Ottawa Senators	32	20	0	64
New Jersey Devils	26	18	4	56
Winnipeg Jets	29	18	3	61
Toronto Maple Leafs	29	17	3	61
Boston Bruins	29	16	2	60
Pittsburgh Penguins	24	20	5	53
Philadelphia Flyers	24	20	4	52
NY Rangers	21	16	10	52
Buffalo Sabres	23	22	4	50
Carolina Hurricanes	22	24	5	49
NY Islanders	20	23	5	45
Florida Panthers	19	24	5	43
Montreal Canadiens	20	28	1	41
Washington Capitals	17	24	7	41
WEST PLAYOFF RACE	W	L	OTL	PTS
St. Louis Blues	33	16	0	66
Anaheim Ducks	31	14	3	65
Vancouver Canucks	24	18	7	55
Nashville Predators	31	17	2	64
Los Angeles Kings	29	18	3	61
Chicago Blackhawks	26	21	3	55
Detroit Red Wings	25	20	5	55
Dallas Stars	24	18	6	54
Calgary Flames	24	22	4	52
Minnesota Wild	26	23	0	52
San Jose Sharks	22	19	6	50
Phoenix Coyotes	22	25	3	47
Columbus Blue Jackets	21	23	5	47
Colorado Avalanche	19	28	4	42
Edmonton Oilers	8	34	7	23

Team Leaders
Goals: Eric Tangradi (11)
Assists: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (17)
Points: Matt Duchene (26)
PIMS: Eric Tangradi (62)
+/-: Brayden Schenn (-9)
Wins: Jacob Markstrom (5)

*Matt Duchene Selected to All-Star Game

Progression
Jacob Markstrom 77->78
Jonas Brodin (AHL) 69->70


Overview
What an absolutely awful year. I mean, I didn't really expect too much considering I only have three forwards over 80 overall, one of them being just 80, and a 69 on defense. However, I didn't really foresee a drastic failure such as this. 8 wins in 49 games is just absurd and I'm far and away the worst team in the league. There are several bright spots though, OEL is showing great playmaking ability, Tangradi is performing like a Perry type guy, and Markstrom is outplaying Brodeur. Brodin is also making nice strides in Oklahoma City. At the end of the day though, when your highest +/- is Schenn with -9, things are bad. I guess I'll have the 1st overall pick to look forward to.

Up next will be trade deadline.

[seb170455]

Good luck. I think this has to be a good team in 2 or 3 years. Good luck being patient.

[Weezer21]

Trade Deadline

Small update, as I made no trades on the deadline. Adam Larsson and Eric Tangradi attracted a lot of interest, but the offers were pretty awful (5th and 7th for Tangradi), so I didn't trade them. Even so, my intentions were never to trade them anyway.

The rest of the league was quiet as well, with only 4 trades total all day. I suppose the biggest deal would be PHX acquiring Jake Gardiner and Zenon Konopka, while sending CAR Ebbet, Kampfer, and a 2012 4th round pick.

As far as the team goes, we managed to get up to 13 wins, with 40 losses and 9 OT defeats. Duchene took over goal lead with 14, while OEL continues to beast on A's with 22.

Next up will be end of year update, sorry for a boring deadline update haha.

[Weezer21]

Quote: Originally Posted by seb170455

Good luck. I think this has to be a good team in 2 or 3 years. Good luck being patient.

Thank you for reading, that's the hope, I like building young so I'm alright with waiting a few years for success.

[bthomp05]

Its amazing what you can do with a Fantasy draft. Both you and I went with the same idea and came out with similiar but different teams. I like, good work.

As you may or may not know my Leafs struggled for 2 years and then became a powerhouse (One more playoff win and the Leafs secure thier 3rd Cup in a row) so stick with it and your young Oilers will pay dividends for you.

Will be following.